


I Dare You to Come and Take Me Down

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: AU Mashup [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Awkwardness, M/M, coffee shop AU, urban fantasy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 01:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15256509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: No matter what Mila said, Yuri didn't have a coffee problem.  He had a coffee opportunity.  Drinking two coffees a day from the coffee shop down the road meant he got to go in twice a day, which meant he got to see the cute barista twice a day.  No sense getting too involved with the guy, it was always dangerous for a magic-user to date a muggle, but he could look and dream, right?Until the day the barista walks into his "medicine" shop.





	I Dare You to Come and Take Me Down

**Author's Note:**

> AU Mashup challenge: Fairy, urban fantasy, coffee shop AU!

Yuri was one of the best potionmakers in the world. He couldn’t brag too much, except within his own small world, but people came to his “alternative medicine” shop because it worked, with less hassle and usually fewer side effects than going to the doctor, and if it cost a little more, well, the extra money was worth not dealing with an extra week of recovering from the flu and the risk of relapse. Those in the know could get his _other_ potions, too, the ones that would give them a boost on mental clarity for an important test, or confidence before a job interview or performance review, or the so-called “love potions” that helped them get laid. Yuri never told anyone that they were buying the same thing as the confidence potions, just dyed pink or red, and sometimes with a little stamina boost thrown in.

For all his skill, though, there was one potion Yuri could never quite get right. It sucked so bad, because he was totally dependent on that potion to do his job. No substitute ever gave him the same results. There was just no substitute for a good coffee.

He’d heard the whispers about the coffee shop down the street, of course. How it was run by fairies, which is why ordering got so complicated and the names on the cups were always misspelled. It never stopped anyone from going there, even with the threat of the coffee being fairy court food. Yuri would absolutely believe it, and what’s more, thought it sounded plausible for a reason why he could never make a decent cup of coffee himself. He screwed up Keurigs, for crying out loud.

On the other hand, the barista Yuri usually dealt with couldn’t be further from a fairy. He was the most straightforward person Yuri had ever met, and there was just such a sense of solidness, of real-world practicality. It was like he was made of iron. Even his schedule was nice and regular – he was off Wednesdays and Thursdays, and worked from open until early afternoon the other days. If Yuri’s schedule had gravitated toward opening shortly after the coffee shop so that Yuri could go get a coffee first thing, and then taking lunch enough before Otabek’s shift ended that he could go get another one, except on Wednesday when he was closed and Thursday when he only opened in the afternoon, well, that was one advantage of working for himself.

 

It took a minute to recognize Otabek the day he walked into Yuri’s shop. In his defense, the ripped jeans and black leather jacket were a huge difference from the coffee shop uniform and dorky apron, and the piercings made his face look just enough different, especially with a blank face replacing the corporate smile. The hair was the same, though, and there was no mistaking those eyes. Yuri took a couple extra stirs of the potion he was working on to compose himself before stepping out. “Hello, what can I do for you today, sir?”

Otabek stared at him for long enough that Yuri was just about to snap at him because of the discomfort. “Damen? You work for Yuri?”

“I am Yuri. This is my shop.” Off Otabek’s confused face, Yuri added, “I just go by Damen because I’m not stupid enough to take the chance that you guys really are fairies and give you my real name.”

“Ah. Of course.” Otabek smiled softly. “Your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell my fairy overlords anything.”

“So what can I do for you?”

“O-oh, uh… I don’t… Sara said I should come to Yuri for help with a problem, it’s not a medical thing, though…”

Yuri would have to have a chat with Sara later. Sara was one of the few outside of his world who knew what Yuri was, thanks to Mila, and she was supposed to keep it dead secret. On the other hand, seeing Otabek in here, stammering and was he blushing? He was blushing. Yuri wouldn’t go too hard on Sara, just hard enough to make sure she understood not to do this again. “Right, then. Come on back where we can talk without the risk of someone else walking in and overhearing.” Yuri turned and walked to the back room where he could check on his potions. Otabek followed. “What’s up?”

“Well, there… there’s this boy… I think he might like me, but I only ever see him at work, so it could just be the coffee, you know? I really like him, but if I’m wrong, I don’t want to make things too awkward for him to come in. My fairy overlords would be pissed if I lost the store one of its best customers, you know?”

Yuri would never claim to be a bastion of professionalism and responsibility, so the first instinct to say he couldn’t help Otabek wasn’t a surprise. If he’d been paying attention better, the jealousy wouldn’t have been, either. “Okay, so… what exactly is it you’re here for? Love potion, liquid courage, mind wipe to forget him…?”

“Sara said I should get a love potion, but that kinda seems like cheating, and I can’t think of a good way to get it to him…”

“The way my love potions work, you drink it while you’re concentrating as hard as you can on him. If you have something of his or write his name on a piece of paper to hold while you drink, that helps, acts as a focus. You don’t have to worry about putting it in his coffee or whatever he gets and hoping he doesn’t notice the taste.”

“Hmm. Still seems like cheating, though… liquid courage? Isn’t that alcohol? I wouldn’t have come here for that.”

Yuri scoffed. Alcohol. In Russia. No, no one would be coming to him for that. “Nah. My liquid courage boosts your confidence without affecting your judgment or coordination or memory. It also doesn’t get you fired for showing up to work drunk.” Otabek snorted. “If you don’t want to go the love potion route, that’s probably your best bet – it doesn’t guarantee you a good outcome, but it’ll push you past your fears and doubts and at least let you get an outcome instead of sitting back and waiting.”

Otabek nodded slowly. “That sounds good. Worth a try, anyway.”

“Great.” Yuri got up and found a small bottle filled with a blue liquid. Last chance to sabotage this. He didn’t. He gave Otabek the bottle, and Otabek nodded at the price. “Good luck. Let me know how things work out for you, and don’t tell anyone what you did or where you got it, there are crazy people out there who’d shut me down and probably try to kill me for it.”

“You’ll know how it works as soon as I do,” Otabek promised. “And don’t worry. I’ll keep that secret, too.”

 

When Yuri went in to get his coffee the next morning, the first thing that Yuri noticed was that Otabek seemed more relaxed than normal. The smile he gave Yuri was much realer than the usual one, and Otabek held out his cup. “One half-caf large mocha, no milk, extra chocolate, caramel, cinnamon for Damen. Enjoy!”

Yuri took the drink and waited. Otabek’s smile stayed put, and he made no move toward the register. “Um, you’re supposed to take my money…?” Yuri said, getting out his wallet.

“Not yet. Pay me when you come back this afternoon if you really want to.”

“Okay…” Yuri took a sip of the drink – not that he doubted Otabek that it was what he wanted, it always was, he was just confused. It was perfect. “Thanks, then.” He headed back to his shop, where he set the cup down and got to work preparing the store to open.

The coffee was half gone when he noticed the writing on the side. It didn’t just say “Daymon”. There was also a smiley face, a phone number, and a short note – “Sorry for the awkwardness yesterday, but I wasn’t expecting you.”

Yuri took out his phone and texted. “Should’ve done this on my afternoon coffee, I don’t know when you get a chance to check your phone until Sara comes in to relieve you. Jerk. Call me when you can.”


End file.
